Optical recording technology that enables consumers and others to record laser-written labels on specially coated recordable CD and DVD media has enjoyed notable commercial success. In light-activated thermal label-recording technology, a surface of the medium is coated with a writable layer of a material that changes appearance when it absorbs laser light of a predetermined wavelength.
Optical recording media may be pre-printed with templates (e.g., graphic images) while still allowing consumers and others to record laser-written text information on portions of the media surface. Alternatively, graphic images and textual information may be printed sequentially by the end user, which can require extra time. For cases in which a general-purpose computer is available, software such as image-processing software may be provided to combine graphic images and text in any desired manner. For standalone apparatus, which may have resources such as memory capacity and computational capability that are limited, the resource requirements for combining graphic images and text can be reduced by reducing the labeling resolution but only at the cost of noticeable degradation in label quality. Thus, for many applications and especially for standalone apparatus, improved methods and apparatus are needed.